Television Format – Enjoy the comfort off copyright or is there a new direction for tv-protection? The IP-system from WIPO in regards to the articles in the UNHR
(2010) JUR092 20102Department of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Uppsatsen utgår det nya formen av tv skapande. Tv-format. Tv-format är TV-program som blandar verklighet och fiction. Kända program är Robinson, American Idol eller Let’s Dance. Den stora skillnaden mellan de här serierna och en serie som Desperate Housewives , är att den senare är helt uppdiktad och baserat på ett manuskript. Oftast är TV-formatet baserat på en idé som är i bästa fall nedskrivet. I nuläget finns där ingen riktigt lagstiftning som täcker in en idébaserad TV-show och många är de som tycker att tiden är inne för en mer heltäckande reglering. Två anledningar för det är den snabba spridning och lättheten att kopiera de här showerna, och den andra är förstås hur mycket pengar som finns i de här showerna.
De två normgivande... (More) - Uppsatsen utgår det nya formen av tv skapande. Tv-format. Tv-format är TV-program som blandar verklighet och fiction. Kända program är Robinson, American Idol eller Let’s Dance. Den stora skillnaden mellan de här serierna och en serie som Desperate Housewives , är att den senare är helt uppdiktad och baserat på ett manuskript. Oftast är TV-formatet baserat på en idé som är i bästa fall nedskrivet. I nuläget finns där ingen riktigt lagstiftning som täcker in en idébaserad TV-show och många är de som tycker att tiden är inne för en mer heltäckande reglering. Två anledningar för det är den snabba spridning och lättheten att kopiera de här showerna, och den andra är förstås hur mycket pengar som finns i de här showerna.
De två normgivande källorna är WIPO, på internationell nivå som skapat regelverk för immaterialrätt och den andra är den nationella praxisen. Nationell lag har valt att stå utanför frågan om TV-format utan domstolarna har fått tagit den stora delen för att besluta om hur TV-format ska skyddas. Det börjar gå i riktning för ett högre skydd. Problemet är att upphovsrätt, nationellt som internationellt bygger på att skydda materiella ting och inte endast idéer. Ett program som är bara är idébaserat löper alltså risken att bli kopierat och utan kompensering. Produktionsbolagen har nu börjat använda sig av produktionsbiblar, där hela processen är noggrant nedskriven. Men den är i sig inte tillräcklig. Diskussionen att skydda formaten ligger främst på WIPOs bord. Nu har WIPO dock mött på motstånd från UN, som tycker att WIPO generellt tagit för stora svängar när det gäller tolkningen av immateriella rättigheter i förhållande till de Mänskliga Rättigheterna. Konflikten mellan dessa två stora institutioner äventyrar hela processen för att skydda TV-format och den stora frågan hur man ska skydda tv-formaten med respekt för Mänskliga Rättigheter. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- This thesis is about television formats and the main question if there is a need for a stronger protection than today. My reason to write about the television format that it combines two interesting areas of knowledge. The mix of media- communications and the law. It is also a question of practical aspects, what does the television business want and the theoretical side of it, what can be with law as the tool. One important aspect is to look how the copyright correspond with the United Nations perspective of law. The television format is new to the legal world, but the television phenomena existed since 1950s with start in the US. The method I have chosen is pure academic, the facts and analysis is built from studies in legal journals,... (More)
- This thesis is about television formats and the main question if there is a need for a stronger protection than today. My reason to write about the television format that it combines two interesting areas of knowledge. The mix of media- communications and the law. It is also a question of practical aspects, what does the television business want and the theoretical side of it, what can be with law as the tool. One important aspect is to look how the copyright correspond with the United Nations perspective of law. The television format is new to the legal world, but the television phenomena existed since 1950s with start in the US. The method I have chosen is pure academic, the facts and analysis is built from studies in legal journals, doctrine and judgments by the courts world over. The thesis starts in chapter four with a short introduction what television format is. A television format is a written or recorded idea in how to make a television show, with live and fiction segments. The characteristics feature for the show is called elements. Known television format today is Survivor and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Most company’s works after an outline called the production bible. It is a notebook with all the production details of the show. Today it is more or less a standard in the industry. Due to the detailed information, many believe that the idea, the television format is protected. This question is more complicated and it will be more elaborated in later chapters. The television format industry is at present time a multibillion dollar business where the US and Great Britain is the greatest production nations. To no surprise, they also lead the work for a stronger protection. The work started in 1994 when legal academics Shelley Lane and Richard Mc Bridge wrote a critical article and asked why the legislation had not come any further. I’ll define what television is and how it’s been formed in national and international law. The traditional take is that television format show is that is based upon an ideas and those has never been protected in copyright law. There is several different definitions to the format. Karnell is the first that tried to define the television format in a legal term. He offers a ‘wholeness’ perspective on the format and writes about factors that makes the show unique from others. Gough emphasize the style and arrangements of the elements in the show. Moran and Malbon has a more pragmatically approach and lists several points that all are used in making a television show. Chapter five discusses already copyrighted parts in a television format, i.e. the music, that is copyrighted as a musical work. It also answers the position of the production bible. Within the doctrine and the courts other models has been promoted, as passing off, copy as two examples Chapter six gives an overview over the international conventions that has formed the international copyright, the Berne Convention but also the WTO, WPPT and the Trips Convention. Chapter seven discusses the Human Rights roles in the discussion and the relation between UN and WIPO, critics and solutions for new developments. The organization Frapa has been formed, with purpose to see if copyright is enough or are there other alternatives. In chapter eight there is an overview from the biggest cases, during the past twenty years, by courts all over the world with presenting principles. Opportunity Knocks Case that came in 1988 was the first case that did try if the television format has a copyright. The answer was negative and it should take yet another fourteen years until the courts came back with a positive response, this time in Brazil. The analysis in chapter nine deals with my own opinion. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1780933
- author
- Larsson, Marie LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JUR092 20102
- year
- 2010
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- public international law, immaterialrätt, international law), criminal law, media, intellectual property, UN, WIPO, television, television format, Expedition Robinson, Survivor, American Idol, Big Brother, Gunnar Karnell, Albert Moran
- language
- English
- id
- 1780933
- date added to LUP
- 2011-03-15 12:03:29
- date last changed
- 2011-03-15 12:03:29
@misc{1780933,
abstract = {{This thesis is about television formats and the main question if there is a need for a stronger protection than today. My reason to write about the television format that it combines two interesting areas of knowledge. The mix of media- communications and the law. It is also a question of practical aspects, what does the television business want and the theoretical side of it, what can be with law as the tool. One important aspect is to look how the copyright correspond with the United Nations perspective of law. The television format is new to the legal world, but the television phenomena existed since 1950s with start in the US. The method I have chosen is pure academic, the facts and analysis is built from studies in legal journals, doctrine and judgments by the courts world over. The thesis starts in chapter four with a short introduction what television format is. A television format is a written or recorded idea in how to make a television show, with live and fiction segments. The characteristics feature for the show is called elements. Known television format today is Survivor and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Most company’s works after an outline called the production bible. It is a notebook with all the production details of the show. Today it is more or less a standard in the industry. Due to the detailed information, many believe that the idea, the television format is protected. This question is more complicated and it will be more elaborated in later chapters. The television format industry is at present time a multibillion dollar business where the US and Great Britain is the greatest production nations. To no surprise, they also lead the work for a stronger protection. The work started in 1994 when legal academics Shelley Lane and Richard Mc Bridge wrote a critical article and asked why the legislation had not come any further. I’ll define what television is and how it’s been formed in national and international law. The traditional take is that television format show is that is based upon an ideas and those has never been protected in copyright law. There is several different definitions to the format. Karnell is the first that tried to define the television format in a legal term. He offers a ‘wholeness’ perspective on the format and writes about factors that makes the show unique from others. Gough emphasize the style and arrangements of the elements in the show. Moran and Malbon has a more pragmatically approach and lists several points that all are used in making a television show. Chapter five discusses already copyrighted parts in a television format, i.e. the music, that is copyrighted as a musical work. It also answers the position of the production bible. Within the doctrine and the courts other models has been promoted, as passing off, copy as two examples Chapter six gives an overview over the international conventions that has formed the international copyright, the Berne Convention but also the WTO, WPPT and the Trips Convention. Chapter seven discusses the Human Rights roles in the discussion and the relation between UN and WIPO, critics and solutions for new developments. The organization Frapa has been formed, with purpose to see if copyright is enough or are there other alternatives. In chapter eight there is an overview from the biggest cases, during the past twenty years, by courts all over the world with presenting principles. Opportunity Knocks Case that came in 1988 was the first case that did try if the television format has a copyright. The answer was negative and it should take yet another fourteen years until the courts came back with a positive response, this time in Brazil. The analysis in chapter nine deals with my own opinion.}},
author = {{Larsson, Marie}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Television Format – Enjoy the comfort off copyright or is there a new direction for tv-protection? The IP-system from WIPO in regards to the articles in the UNHR}},
year = {{2010}},
}